Computers used in a wide variety of applications inevitably incur errors during their operations, for example due to failures of software or hardware components. Such failures may pass unnoticed, until their cumulative effect degrades system performance to such an extent that corrective action must be taken. Often, when corrective action becomes necessary, the underlying causes of failures may be difficult to detect, because they may be related to some past operation or system state which cannot be recovered. Because these underlying causes may not be detectable, it may not be possible to rectify them, and therefore the failures persist.
Known methods for attempting to capture system conditions or identify system components which generate errors have entailed connecting logic analyzers to the computer systems and attempting to decipher data traffic therein. However, this approach adversely affects bus electrical integrity.
Accordingly, a method and system are needed for capturing information that enables de-bugging of system problems, without the drawbacks of the prior art.